TRITEC FRANCE: 2.5 MW from photovoltaics produced on green houses in Montélimar

Can an organic farmer increase his return with solar power? Without a doubt.

With the help of its installation partners (GPVL and SUDELIO) TRITEC FRANCE recently completed a turn-key 2.5 MW solar system atop of greenhouse. After 2 years of engineering and 6 months of work on site this power generator with an area of 40,000 m² will produce 3 GWh per year, the equivalent to the power consumption of 2,000 persons and eliminating 81 kg of highly radioactive waste over a course of 30 years.

For optimum utilisation atop the greenhouse the 13,440 modules were custom made using transparent TEDLAR film. More than 230 km of cable connect them to 4 main SMA inverters.

During on-site completion the photovoltaics meter TRI-KA, developed by TRITEC, was used to demonstrate the system’s operating performance meets the theoretical values transmitted by the manufacturer.

In addition to the technical achievement in equipping this greenhouse this is also a project which stirred numerous experts into action, particularly the organic farm AGRIVOLT and an organic agricultural engineer. Over more than two years this team performed large-scale testing in a half-shade location. Several plant species showed very promising results in these conditions.

Through this project TRITEC reinforces a new economic model. Producing organic products in France, a business with uncertain profitability as turnover from this business fluctuates greatly. In fact the yield per hectare without the use of pesticides varies from one harvest to the next. To compensate for these sales fluctuations the regular income made possible through the use of solar roofs reduce the organic farmer’s fixed costs and a positive operating result - even in bad years.